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Monkey's owner sued in wake of 2003 birthday party incident
By DIANE CARROLL
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Thu, Feb. 14, 2008
http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/490810.html

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Take a gaggle of 10- and 11-year-olds at a birthday party, throw in a
couple of rented monkeys and just sit back and let the camcorders
roll.

"The monkeys hopped from shoulder to shoulder and from person to
person," said Susan Vanlandingham of Leawood, who was throwing the
birthday bash for her son, Ben. "It seemed like a free-for-all. … We
thought, 'This is great.' "

But when one of the monkeys, a little Capuchin named Wyatt, jumped on
a child grabbing for Cheetos, it kicked off a litigation battle that
still isn't resolved five years later. Even today, there is
disagreement over whether Wyatt bit the child twice or just scratched
him.

This week, Ron Aryel, the former Johnson County public health officer
who ordered that Wyatt be euthanized to be tested for rabies, filed a
malicious prosecution lawsuit against Wyatt's owner, Debbie Barnett of
Paola.

Barnett had sued Aryel and other health officials in 2005 for
allegedly putting Wyatt down needlessly; that lawsuit in Miami County
District Court was dismissed last summer.

"He can sue away," Barnett said Thursday, after learning of Aryel's
lawsuit against her. "I have nothing."

Five months after the birthday-party incident on May 7, 2003, she
said, the stress of it caused her and her husband to separate. She had
been working as a veterinary technician for him, so she stopped that
too. And that birthday party was the last time she's taken any of her
monkeys to a public event.

"I lost my marriage, I lost my profession. I lost my life. But the
worst thing was we killed a nonhuman primate who was in the middle of
this whole thing for nothing."

Attorney Arthur Benson, who is representing Aryel, said he imagines
Barnett was close to 4-year-old Wyatt, just as people are close to
their pets.

"I'm sure she feels very upset about it but that's not a reason to
haul off and sue," Benson said.

Because Aryel was a contract employee with Johnson County, he had to
hire his own attorney to defend himself against Barnett's lawsuit,
Benson said. Aryel's federal lawsuit in Kansas City, Kan., seeks
compensation for that, as well as for the damage he says he suffered
to his reputation and the emotional distress he endured.

Aryel, who referred questions to his attorney, is no longer working
for the county.

While the 2003 birthday party was in progress, the incident with Wyatt
and the 11-year-old boy did not seem like that big a deal, said
Vanlandingham, who was holding the party in her backyard.

But afterward, the mother of the boy called a doctor and the dreaded
word rabies entered the conversation. She learned that rabies is
life-threatening and that her son would have to undergo a grueling
series of shots unless authorities could test the monkey to ensure he
did not have rabies.

"It was very scary," said the mother, who asked not to be identified.

Aryel maintains he consulted with other health officials and
determined that the only way to find out if Wyatt had rabies was to
euthanize him and conduct tests on his brain. Barnett objected, and
said in her lawsuit that a health officer in Miami County was
exploring other options.

Barnett and her then veterinarian-husband had obtained Wyatt from a
zoological park in Missouri, Barnett said. He had lived with them
since he was a day old and was like a child to them.

Barnett said Wyatt was never exposed to any wild animals or any
animals infected with rabies. In fact, she said, Wyatt and the other
monkeys they owned had been vaccinated against rabies.

But Aryel insisted on euthanizing Wyatt, Barnett said. After sheriff's
deputies came to their Miami County home to take Wyatt away, Barnett's
husband euthanized Wyatt himself.

The mother of the boy who was bitten was surprised to learn this week
that legal battles were still going on.

Her 11-year-old had to endure some "horrible, horrible" shots to
protect himself against the possibility of rabies, she said. Luckily,
she said, he did not have to continue them because of the tests on
Wyatt.

Barnett says she empathizes with the parents of the boy in question.

However, she said, she still suffers from the way the situation was handled.

"It just all seems so senseless," Barnett said.

Benson sees it another way. He says Aryel was just doing his job.

"His duty was to the public, not the monkey," Benson said.